Former Newcastle United and Southampton player Alan Neilson takes inspiration from Kevin Keegan as he looks to make a mark at Cambridge United

Alan Neilson has plenty of good advice to call upon from his storage bank.

The Cambridge United assistant coach, who has been in the role at the R Costings Abbey Stadium for a month, watched a number of top managers at work during his playing days.

The likes of Ossie Ardiles, Alan Ball, Dave Merrington, Graeme Souness and Ray Wilkins have all helped shape Neilson’s football thinking from spells with the likes of Newcastle, Southampton and Fulham.

But one man stands out for the former Welsh international defender – it was the man who sold him to Southampton for £500,000 and then bought him back for £250,000 a few years later when he was chief operating officer at Fulham.

“Kevin Keegan was a winner and he hated losing,” said Neilson. “He had good coaches around him and he was a great motivator.

“That winning mentality rubbed off on you and a lot of the things he touched turned to gold.

“He wanted to be the best he could be, and that’s one of the philosophies I have. You should always try your best.

“Every single manager I’ve worked with has their own attributes and sees things slightly differently, and I’ve tried to take the good bits.

“Every time I get a bit of advice, if it’s good then I keep it in the storage bank and if it’s not then I leave it.

“Some players need an arm around their shoulder, and some need to be kept on their toes and told, ‘work, work, work’. It’s all about keeping people ticking over and in confident mood.

“You’ve got to make sure the whole squad is happy. You can only pick 11 players to start and five on the bench, so if you’ve got a squad of 20 then it’s hard to keep everyone happy, but winning games goes a long way towards doing that.”

Neilson was born in Wegberg, Germany, but he was able to play for England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland because he was born on a British camp during his father’s time working for the German Royal Air Force.

The Welsh connection started when the then Wales manager Terry Yorath was impressed by him in a reserve match playing for Newcastle against Leeds as he worked his way back to fitness following a three-month injury lay-off.

Neilson went on to captain Wales Under-21s and earned five caps for the full national side. And, although injuries hampered him throughout his playing days, he looks back on his career with real fondness.

“I only had one major injury, but I had a lot of niggly injuries,” said Neilson, whose achievements included being promoted to the Premier League with both Newcastle and Fulham, as well as twice helping Southampton avoid relegation from the top flight on the final day of the campaign.

“That’s just my body, and I had a lot of problems with my calf muscles.

“With hindsight I maybe could have eaten better food, with advice from the sports scientists that we have now, and it was all a bit stop-start. But I really enjoyed being out on the training ground and kicking the ball around.”

Neilson was always keen to get into coaching and he has worked with children aged five up to adults, as well as coaching ladies.

His current task is to assist United’s head coach Richard Money, and he rates the man he previously worked alongside at Luton extremely highly.

“I know Richard’s a top, top coach,” said Neilson. “He organises teams, gets his point across and he will change his tactics to win games.

“I know a lot of other coaches have learned a lot from him as well, so it was a no-brainer for me to come here to work with him again.

“He’s always had teams near the top of the league, and he’s been there and done it.

“I’m really enjoying it. I know Richard and get on well with the staff, and I’ve just come to help out and do what the gaffer and Matt (Walker, head of sports science) want me to do.

“With the squad getting bigger and lads coming back to fitness, I can take some of the sessions and that takes some of the load off the gaffer.”

The U’s go into tomorrow’s match at Halifax five points behind Skrill Premier leaders Luton with three games in hand as the race for the one automatic promotion spot continues to heat up.

And Neilson agrees with sentiments aired by Money earlier in the season that a third promotion slot should be made available because of the strength of non-League’s top flight.

“I saw Cambridge in pre-season against Norwich and I was very impressed, and before I started work I’d seen them in the FA Cup against Bury and Sheffield United,” said Neilson.

“I’ve come to Cambridge and been impressed with the whole set-up. Things are going well and long may that continue.

“We know this league’s a good league and I’ve been involved in it for four seasons. It should be three teams up and three coming down because the teams that go up from the Conference do well in League Two, and even League One.

“That proves the level of football in the Conference is very, very good and teams can hold their own.”